The present invention relates to an inhalation device provided with a socket for an aerosol container that contains material to be inhaled, the bottom of said socket being fitted with a baffle which receives the valve stem of said container and extends into an inhalation chamber provided with a mouthpiece, and a nozzle mounted on the end of an inlet channel and terminating in said inhalation chamber.
At present, medicine is inhaled into the lungs by using either an inhalation aerosol or a powder metering device. A major drawback in using a inhalation aerosol device is that the dosing must be effected in the beginning of inhalation, which all patients cannot manage. Another minor drawback is that aerosol does not work at temperature below zero due to the relatively low vapor pressure of the generally used propellant compositions.
Powder metering devices do not suffer from the above drawbacks but, due to the small amounts of medicine used, they require the use of a carrier, at present lactose or glucose. These are hygroscopic carbohydrates which readily adhere to a moist surface. A powder metering device gets wet on the inside if exhaled through or brought from cold weather to warm indoor air. A conseuence is soiling of the device and diminishing of the inhaled dosage. An inexact dosage may also result if an inhalation-ready device is held in a wrong position wherever some of the powder falls out through the inhalation hole. From a user's point of view, filling of a powder metering device with a medical formulation for each dosage is inconvenient.
Lactose and glucose are useful as carriers for the mount pathogenes but there is no doubt that decay of the teeth will increase because of the continuous exposure to the sugar caused by the powder. Also, for patients who are over-sensitive to lactose, such a medical formulation is not always suitable.